


By Your Side

by craple



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Oblivious, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-30
Updated: 2013-03-30
Packaged: 2017-12-06 22:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/741110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/craple/pseuds/craple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Simon doesn't understand why Jace keeps popping up in his room and touching his arms and being ten-times more attractive around Simon than he does anyone else. Mundane/Human AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	By Your Side

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MyphosYst](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyphosYst/gifts).



> MY 100TH FIC!!! YAY!!!  
> jimon, dedicated to my beloved scarlet. congratulation on the engagement, hon!

i: prologue

Bros are Simon and Kyle, running around the apartment, stealing each other’s stuff and makes fun of one’s capability whilst playing Mortal Combat or Call of Duty or whichever comes first.

Kyle would sometimes sneak into Simon’s room when he’s distressed or lonely or when Maia is going through one of her bitch-feast, even though she is _not_ a bitch, but as bros, Simon is obliged to think that way when Maia is upset with Kyle.

Point being: Simon’s room is off-limits except for Simon’s bros, which consists of Kyle and his band mates and possibly Clary, and even then he’d definitely think twice about letting her into his room for obvious reason that is porn magazines stashed underneath his mattress.

Jace is _not_ Simon’s bro, and as such, is _not_ allowed anywhere near Simon’s room.

Unfortunately, the perfect golden boy does not seem to get the message loud and clear – _literally_ , loud and clear; in his defence, Simon did _not_ expect to find Jace messing around with his books in his room after he just got out of shower – and keeps coming back, much to Kyle’s amusement.

* * *

ii: introduction

Simon met Jace during his first year of high school. Even back then, Jace was extremely popular with everyone. He wasn’t exactly _friendly_ , per-se, but he was good-looking, awfully clever in every single subject he takes, and the captain of their school’s basketball team.

Clary was head over heels when it comes to Jace. They dated on their second year, which was when Simon first met Kyle, and he and Clary became a bit distant with each other after that.

Kyle joined the Millennium Lint because he was looking for some cash. It’s a good thing that the band wasn’t as terrible as it was during junior-high, so they managed to get some money from playing in a couple of bars until they permanently settled every week night at the Pandemonium. Kyle changed his mind on leaving the band, then, and they became the best bros ever since.

Jace was – _infuriating_ , to say the least. He knew of Simon’s big crush on Clary, a weapon he used every time they hit it off. Verbal abuse was – _is_ – one of Simon’s big fortes, and while it wasn’t exactly _fun_ being taunted by Jace when Clary wasn’t around to see, he might have actually enjoyed their banter a tiny little bit.

They were not friends, or anything close to it. Jace found Simon as the most annoying person he has ever met, and Simon hated Jace for stealing Clary from him – although he already made his peace with that, the first night Kyle drunkenly made out with him until both of them came in their pants, and Simon realised he likes boys as much as girls.

This knowledge was not, however, the reason why he decided to choose running as an exercise to grow some muscles, no matter what Kyle says. He chose to run because it makes him feel so much better when he’s particularly horny and can’t wank, what with Kyle living and sleeping in the next room and all, and that is not the stuff you do to your bros, having been intimate with them or not.

By the time their senior year came around, Simon was the captain of track team, and had at least dated a quarter of their school’s population, both male _and_ female.

No one knew about it, though, which is excellent, because even if the popular girls at school finally noticed that he actually had some muscles underneath the plaids, Simon is still frightened of them down to the _bones_.

So he kept his head down all the way through his high school life, dated a few girls and a few boys, graduated with the highest GPA of 3.9 and a state-championship trophy that still made _everyone_ ’s jaws dropped in surprise.

When he told his mom that he’s planning to move into a penthouse Kyle’s family gave Kyle for free after getting a 3.4 GPA, his mom asked him if she should be expecting a marriage proposal from the other boy soon, because they have some relatives in Holland to help setting up the wedding place.

Kyle choked on his drinks and nearly called the whole thing off, until Simon made him swore that they would not get married unless they are still single by the time they reach forty.

His mother was not amused.

-x-x-x-

Four days after Simon moved in with Kyle, Clary came over crying about her recent break-up with Jace – which was extremely awkward indeed, because, as it turned out, precisely twenty-three minutes after her arrival, Kyle barged into Simon’s room and announced that Jace is going to live with them in the other room, right next to Simon’s own.

Clary left and never came back.

Simon found himself wondering when he stopped caring.

-x-x-x-

Jace moved in three days after what Kyle labels as ‘The Clary Incident’.

At the time, Kyle was out working as a waiter at the cafe down the street near their apartment complex, and Simon was not aware or told that Jace would come, so he spent an hour playing Death Space, clad in only the snug navy-blue boxer his most recent no-strings-attached buddy recommended to him. Eating last night’s leftover pizza and possibly expired carton of milk when the bells rang.

Being the clumsy little thing he was (Isabelle Lightwood’s words, the first time Simon asked her out on a date, and she humiliated him in front of the entire school), Simon didn’t bother to put his shirt back on, or check the visitor through the hole on the door. The apartment complex wasn’t exactly elite, but it’s a close call, so he simply assumed it was Kyle leaving early from his shift.

He did not expect to find a thoroughly pissed Jace fucking Wayland in front of his door. Dressed in a white tight v-neck shirt and equally tight jeans hanging low on his hips, Jace is the very epitome of _obscenity_. Simon almost cried and bowed down to his perfection and high cheekbones and tanned biceps underneath the thin layer of clothing were it not for his dignity notwithstanding.

Jace looked at Simon with surprised, assessing eyes. He took in Simon’s attire with a raised eyebrow carved out of perfection before snapping back to meet Simon’s eyes. His eyes were bright and golden and _smouldering_ , Simon nearly wept, and then reminded himself that Jace was Clary’s ex, that Jace _hated_ Simon’s gut, also, least of all, _Jace is fucking straight_.

Clearing his throat, Simon opened the door wider for Jace. “Come in,” Simon tried, completely nonchalant. Jace grinned and cocked his head to the side, looking amused and extremely fuckable, from this angle.

Simon thought of murdered babies and kicked puppies and naked old ladies to keep his boner in check. “Kyle didn’t tell me he’s on the courtesan business. No wonder he’s so rich.” Jace said, and Simon scowled, his whole body flushing in embarrassment.

“I wasn’t expecting you moving in today, okay?” Simon said. “I thought he was fucking with me when he said you’re going to live with us.”

Jace laughed. A full-body laugh that still made him ridiculously graceful, irritating the hell out of Simon’s everything. Simon sort of wanted to strangle him for simply being perfect.

“No complaints from me about the whole naked thing, Lewis.” Jace drawled. His eyes were dark as they trailed down the length of Simon’s body, leaving Simon feeling flushed and exposed.

Simon had to clamp down the urge to strangle Jace again, but then he thought of strangling Jace in a whole other scenario that wouldn’t end in a long miserable death, and that’s just –

 _Clary’s ex-boyfriend_ , Simon chanted silently in his head. _Jace loathes your gut, and is as straight as a fucking ruler, possibly_ straighter.

Instead, Simon showed Jace the empty bedroom right next to Simon’s own and slammed the door on Jace’s face when the guy tried to coax him into switching rooms.

It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

* * *

iii: present

It is not the first time Jace got into his bedroom unannounced – or even _wanted_ , for that matter – but today, Simon wakes up to Jace nuzzling the crook of his neck, nipping at the skin _above_ his collarbone, where it cannot be hidden even under the largest-size shirt Simon owns.

Obviously, Simon screeches, _manfully_ , he might add, and kicks Jace off his bed before falling over the bed himself, because the world apparently hates Simon as much as Simon hates Jace.

Kyle barges in a moment later with a frying pan and a fork.

That morning does _not_ start well.

-x-x-x-

“I mean – I just don’t get what his problem is, alright?” Simon whines through a bite of his Danish, swallowing it down with his sugarless black coffee.

Usually, Simon is not such a dull of a specimen to drink something so foul, but in his defence, he _did_ just have Jace fucking Wayland, in all of his attractive glory, half-naked on his bed, _cuddling_ him this morning, so _excuse you_.

Magnus hums tunelessly in response, so Simon takes that as his cue to let everything out. “Last week, he stole some of my favourite plaid shirts and bought me that strawberry ice cream he _knows_ I don’t like! The week before –“

“He purposefully dumped the entirety of your shampoo and replaced it with his own, yes, I know, you’ve _said_.” Magnus cuts him off, not unkindly, and Simon shrinks back into his seat.

In all his nineteen years of living, Simon has never met someone so persistent on making his life a literal living hell. Which confuses the hell out of him since, what did he ever do to Jace, anyway, to get treated like this? Even Kyle is just as confused as Simon is.

He can’t even use the ‘Recent Break-Up with Clary’ excuse anymore, because apparently he’s not the only one who thinks that the one who keeps fucking things up in their relationship is Jace, not Clary. Quite the contrary, his best friend is still persistent on getting Jace back, thus their on-and-off relationship.

Clary seems to hate him now though, so Simon doesn’t ask, and he doesn’t care. Majoring in law does that to people, he thinks. Kyle is lucky enough to major in business. He wonders why Jace can’t seem to stop bothering him, when he must have so many things to do, what with him being in medical school and all. It is very confusing.

“Don’t you think that you should confront him about this thing that has been happening around with you two, whatever it is?” Magnus begins, carefully. Keeping an eye contact with Simon throughout the conversation like Simon is going to run off. “Talk to him as of why he is acting this way. Over coffee, perhaps, so it isn’t likely for him to run off or you to run him off with your incoherency.”

“You love my incoherency,” Simon mutters, cheeks flushed as he recalls of his first time with Magnus – which just. Um.

“And what, are we still talking about Jace here? Why would he run away from _me_? Also – is this why you’re proposing coffee when I called you this morning? Because you think I’m going to run away? Are you confronting me about something I’ve done or _not_ done?”

Magnus places his go-to-cup calmly on the table and smoothes the wrinkles on his napkin. “I think you and Jace need to talk.” Magnus says. “But I also think that you need to look back on your life. Take a trip down the memory lane. See what made Jace this way. You might even get lucky.”

Simon stares at him blankly. “You slept with Raphael didn’t you.” And Magnus glares at him through his ridiculously long lashes, his lips curved into a ridiculously adorable pout.

“Shut up.”

-x-x-x-

Taking Magnus’ advice in mind is obviously, not the wisest thing to do, but the young eccentric TA is right. If Simon does not confront Jace anytime soon, the next thing he knows Jace will be stealing his hidden porn stash and blackmailing Simon with the power of his cruelty and lack of personal-space.

Which is very confusing as well, seeing that Jace on regular days barely tolerates Kyle’s hand on his back or anyone touching him for that matter, but he doesn’t seem to find it difficult to make Simon uncomfortable by touching him everywhere.

Frankly speaking though, Simon _likes_ Jace, however small.

Their banter is what makes him survive the stressful day and the heavy work-loads from his professor, and he can’t say that the other man hasn’t been a helpful daily distraction, because he _is_ , and it really _helps_. He doesn’t want Jace to strain away from him or the like, he just wants to know _why_ he is doing this – thing that he’s been doing since the first time they met.

So, after finishing his exam in record-time, Simon runs all the way around campus to stop by at the small Starbucks merchandise to buy Jace’s favourite drink: a large cup black forest, complete with whipped cream and chocolate chips, before walking all the way to the Medical school building in a slow leisure pace to make sure the drinks won’t spill.

He arrives just in time for Jace’s class to finish, and convinces himself that the thundering in his left ribcage is the left-over adrenaline from running to Starbucks, nothing else.

Jace, upon seeing him, looks pleasantly surprised. _Far_ too pleasantly surprised. Simon can feel his blood rushing upward to his cheeks; the tips of his ears feel so hot he can practically _feel_ it. He’s suddenly glad that he’s leaning against the large towering pillar because he’s pretty sure he might have fallen down from the intensity of Jace’s blinding grin alone.

“Have you finally decided to ask me out? ‘Cause I’m telling you, no matter how large a cup of coffee you bought for me, it won’t still be enough. But, since I’m feeling especially cheerful today, I’d spare you the heartbreak and say yes.” Jace says.

He’s doing that thing again with his arms caging Simon’s body in place, leaning closer and grinning and basically looking attractive as fuck, Simon’s brain malfunctions.  A lot of people stop to stare at them, give them a _look_ , but Simon can’t think with Jace’s breath fanning his face and Jace’s eyes looking heatedly at his lips and Jace’s –

Simon inhales shakily then shoves the drink to Jace’s chest.

“Not coffee, black forest,” Simon says. His voice is oddly rough. “And I want to talk to you – about something. You have free period after this, right?” _Please don’t ask how I know that, please don’t ask, please,_ please _._

Jace’s face falls. Simon almost wants to reach out and tells him to put the smile back in place.

 _Straight, hate your guts, your best friend’s ex_ , Simon chants in his head, loud as it may.

“Unfortunately, I can’t.” Jace says, and he truly does sound like it’s the most unfortunate thing, not being able to hang out with Simon. Like it’s the worst, or something. “There’s something I must do. I’ll see you back at home though.”

There’s a question in there, somewhere, even though it doesn’t sound like one. Simon nods anyway, and Jace’s face returns to its blinding happiness. “Good,” he says, reaching out, his thumb pressing against the corner of Simon’s lips.

“Good,” Simon echoes, tilts his head to lick at the thumb instinctively. Watches the way Jace’s eyes darken, breath hitching, sending shiver down Simon’s spine.

Jace clears his throat and steps back. He smiles at Simon one last time, before walking away.

When Simon follows the direction he’s going – Clary is staring straight at him, and _oh_.

That explains _everything_.

-x-x-x-

Kyle picks up his phone on the second ring, with a tired “’ello?” to which Simon replies,

“I think – I’m pretty sure – that the reason behind Jace’s attitude toward me is because Jace likes me! I mean, he’s been pulling my metaphorical pigtails and everything, right, when he actually really wants me to suck –“

The line is dead before Simon can finish.

-x-x-x-

Simon calls Magnus next.

“You do realise that I am in the middle of a lecture, yes?” the TA drawls, annoyance creeping in his voice.

“I think Jace likes me!” Simon blurts out, arms flailing.

“Tell me something I don’t already know. Like how it feels when he fucked you seven ways to Sunday.” And the line is disconnected.

Simon can’t stop the grin from taking over his face.

-x-x-x-

That night, after finally getting out of his last lecture of the day, Simon takes the cab home in lieu of walking as he usually does.

He feels light-headed and happy, but somehow he still dreads what may happen, tonight. Taking a trip down the memory lane, as Magnus said it, was really helpful to figure out that Jace actually likes him, but. There was Clary wanting to talk to Jace, or the other way around, and Simon wonders if he has actually ruined the one chance for them to get back together.

Suddenly, Simon feels sick.

The dread in his chest is completely forgone, though, when he unlocks the door to find Jace waiting for him, a big smile on his face, a pyjama bottom the only thing he has on his body.

“Is this your way of seducing me?” Simon asks, dizzily, as he makes his way to where Jace is slouching over the couch. “Or retaliation for greeting you half-naked the first time you came here?”

Jace hums, smiling as he watches Simon sitting on his lap. “Of sorts. Magnus said that you can be pretty dense when it comes to, you know. But I wasn’t expecting you to be _this_ dense.” He trails his hand down Simon’s neck, working at the tense knots around his shoulder, before settling on Simon’s hip.

“How long?” Simon asks, knowing the answer already, yet he still wants to hear them. Confession from Jace is like a drug he can’t get over. Jace shrugs.

“Does it matter?” and he pulls Simon’s head down, brushing their lips slightly, _ever_ so slightly, Simon whimpers when he loses contact. “Just to clear your conscience, I officially ended things with Clary this afternoon, and told her that I’m interested in someone else.”

“That’s nice,” Simon says, darts his tongue out to swipe the contour of Jace’s lower lip, nibbles at the wet skin there until Jace surges up and finally _kisses_ him senseless.

“You have no idea – how much I’ve wanted to do this,” Jace tells him, pulling at his hair and licking at his neck, before going back to Simon’s lips and nips at them savagely. Simon nods and hitches in agreement.

Just as Jace is slipping his hand down Simon’s jeans whilst Simon is busy sucking the already-bruised skin below his ear, Kyle’s voice echoes throughout the entire building:

“ _Oh sweet Jesus, get a fucking room!_ ”


End file.
